Sewing-machine folder.



G. E. MOLYNEUX & G. S. GATCHELL.

SEWING MACHINE FOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I. 1913.

Patented Jan. 16, 1917.

/ ATOR/VEY Tia (fl/Vl/EIVTORS 64,. 9%

UNTTFLD STATES GEORGE E. MOLYNEUX, 0F BAYONNE. AND GEORGE S. GATCHELL, OF ROSELLE PARK,

NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO THE SINGER RATION OF NEW JERSEY.

MANUFACTURING COIVIPANY, A CORPO- SEWING-MACHINE FOLDER.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, GEORGE E. MOLY- NEUX and Gnonen S. GATCHELL, citizens of the United States, residing, respectively, at Bayonne, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, and Roselle Park, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sewing-Machine Folders, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to a lap seam folder orfeller and will be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of part of the feed-arm of a machine having the folder attached thereto, certain parts being in section; Fig. 2 a top plan view of Fig. 1 with the presser foot and needles omitted and showing the two pieces of goods entering the folder; Fig. 3 a front view of Fig. 1 with the material being folded shown in section; Fig. 4 an end elevation of the folderthat is, looking at the folder toward the delivery end; Fig. 5 a longitudinal section on the plane of the line 5-5 of Fig. 4:; Fig. 6 a side View of the presser-foot with the two pieces of material in their relative positions while passing through the folder; Fig. 7 a perspective view of the support for the folder; Fig. 8 a perspective, showing the lowerside, of a plate forming part of the support; Fig.9 a view of the seam and of the relation between the two folded pieces after stitching. Similar reference numerals indicate similar parts in the several views.

For convenience of illustration and description the attachment is shown as applied to the end of a cylindrical feed-up-the-arm machine, the arm being designated by the numeral 1, and the cylinder cap by the numeral 2. On the face of the cap is adjustably secured a bracket 3, by means of a screw 4, passing through an elongated slot 5 in the bracket.- Fastened to the top of the bracket is a plate 6 which extends into a cut out portion of the cap 2, as shown in Fig. 1, so as to permit the attachment to be brought as near to the needles as possible.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16, 1917.

Application filed March 1, 1913. Serial No. 751,406.

Plate 6 has a transverse groove 7 and an elongated slot 8, the latter receiving a screw 9 by means of which the folder hereinafter described may be adjusted laterally, so that the operator may control the margins or folded edges in relation to the line of stitches. Seated upon plate 6 is a plate 10 on the under side of which is a transverse gib 11 adapted to engage slot 7 in plate 6, a tapped hole 12 receiving the end of screw 9. The upperside of plate 10 is formed with parallel beveled gibs 11, which serve as guides and retaining means for a plate 13, which plate is secured at its front, or the end toward the operator, to the under side of the folder, as shown in Fig. 5. This mode of attaching the folder to plate 13 provides for a slight vertical yield of the folder at its delivery end. The base of the folder at its receiving end may be soldered to the plate 13, as indicated in Fig. 5, or other suitable connecting means may be employed. A stud 1a projecting from the under side of plate 13 is adapted to engage the end wall of a slot 15 in plate 10 when the folder is properly adjusted, the folder plate 13 being frictionally and removably held in the gibs 11. By means of screw 4 passing through slot 5, bracket 3 may be adjusted vertically to accommodate different sizes of folders.

The folder comprises two scrolls preferably formed of a single piece of metal as follows: The left-hand or lower work-support 16 is continued to the right, looking at Fig. 3, beyond the center line of the folder and then curved upwardly to form the right-hand wall 17, then over to the left of the center line, then downwardly in the form of an ogee curve 18, and then upwardly to form the reverse curve or wall 19. The latter is continued laterally to form the upper wing 20. The upper and lower turns of the ogee curve 18, at the front of the folder, extend upon opposite sides of the center line, the amount of the curvature over the center line gradually diminishing from the forward or front end of the folder toward the delivery end so that the edges of the folded pieces, when stitched shall abut as shown in Fig. 9. Along the edge of the right-hand wall 17, beginning from the front edge of the left-hand work-support 16, is soldered a piece 21, which serves as the right-hand work-support. The piece 21 rises from the front edge of the work-support 16 and is curved upwardly to the highest point of the right-hand wall 17, and then takes the general direction of the upper turn of the ogee curve 18 convergent toward the lower turn of the ogee curve, as shown in Fig. 4. ,The curvature upward of the righthand work-support, as shown at 21 in Fig. 5, provides a convenient means for guiding the material into the folder, and removes the inconvenience attendant upon the use of what is known as the butterfly folderthat is, there are no sharp edges over which the material must pass while being fed into the folder.

As shown in Fig. 1, the plate 6 is inclined downwardly from the throat-plate 22, the purpose of giving this inclination being to bring the horizontal center line of the folder into the plane of the throat-plate or worksupportthat is, heretofore the base of the folder has been mounted directly upon the throat-plate or worlnsupport of the machine, or parallel with it, so that one side of the material is fed in substantially a horizontal plane and the other side in a downwardlyinclined plane, with the result that the folded pieces do not come out even at the end of the sewing. In the folder herein illustrated, the right-hand work-support 21, being inclined downwardly toward the work-support of the machine, as shown in Fig. l, by inclining the folder downwardly, as shown in Fig. 1, the left-hand work-support 16 approaches the throat-plate or work-support of the machine on an upwardly-inclined plane of substantially the same angularity with respect to the plane of the work-support or throat-plate, as the right-hand worksupport 21 approaches it in a downwardlyinclined plane. The unevenness of the ends heretofore noticeable with other forms of folders does not occur when the folder is inclined as above described. Another advantage incident to inclining the folder is that the delivery end thereof may be brought closer to the presser-foot without the necessity of cutting away a considerable part of the folder to clear the pressenfoot, as has been done heretofore. This enables the folded pieces to be brought very near to the needles, as indicated in Fig. 1.

As heretofore constructed, so far as known to us, the walls for turning the edges of the material have been inclined toward each other from the front to the delivery end of the folder. In the present construction, however, the longitudinal central lines of the oppositely curved side walls 17 and 19 are substantially parallel with each other.

By so disposing these walls, the pieces pass through the folder with the portions to be folded over turned at substantially rightangles to the body of the piece, the folding of the turned-over portion upon the body occurring near the delivery endthat is, by reference to the drawings, the left-hand or under piece 23, when placed in the folder, has its marginal edge turned upwardly so that the extreme edge engages the upper turn of the ogee curve 18, said upper turn serving as a filling-guide. The right-hand or upper piece 24, when placed in the folder, has its marginal edge turned downwardly so that the extreme edge engages the lower turn of the ogee curve 18, the lower turn serving as a filling-guide for the right-hand piece.

As above described, the work-support 16, wall 17, ogee curve 18, wall 19, and wing 20 are preferably made in one piece, and the longitudinal central lines of the oppositely curved side Walls 17 and 19 are substantially parallel. To effect the folding, the section of wall 17, before it merges into the upper turn of the ogee curve'18, and the section of wall 19 merging from the lower turn of the ogee curve, converge toward each other.

The ogee curve is longer vertically at the receiving end than it is at the delivery end that is, the vertical filling-guides formed by the upper and lower turns of the ogee curve 18 converge toward each other. As the pieces 23 and 24 emerge from the delivery end of the folder, the extreme edges of the folded portions are substantially in the same vertical plane, so that, when the pieces pass under the presser-foot 25 and are stitched, the edges will abut, and the two pieces will lap, as shown in Fig. 9.

An advantage possessed by the present folder is that by reason of the substantially parallel walls of the lower and upper scrolls, and the connecting ogee curve, the lower and upper turns of which curve serve as fill ing guides, the folder is able to properly take care of all kinds of material of agiven number of ounces per yard, without the necessity of making special provision for crossing seams, that is without making the folder larger than is necessary for normal work or when seams are not crossed. In practice the present folder will be marked with the number of ounces per yard of the material to be folded thereby enabling the purchaser or user to obtain a folder adapted to his needs.

Vie have described the side walls 17 and 19 as substantially parallel, and our purpose is to include within the scope of our invention, walls which slightly diverge from the receiving end toward the delivery end of the folder.

The primary object of the invention is to provide such a construction that a uniform width of margin of the goods shall be acted upon throughout the length of the folder. In other words the construction is such that it is possible to direct into the folder only the exact width of margin of the fabric which is to be ultimately included in the lap-seam fold and not as heretofore to direct into the folder an excess of margin. To this end the side walls of the folder should be parallel or slightly divergent from receiving to delivery end. To cover this range of width it may be said that the folder has a Width at the delivery end at least as great as the width of the receiving end. Also that the scrolls have their fabric engaging surfaces of substantially the same peripheral or transverse measurement at the receiving and delivery ends, so as to accommodate a uniform width of margin to be lapped for the stitching operation. Because of the elusive, if not indefinite, nature of any description of a hemmer construction in which the walls defining the various work-engaging surfaces run or merge into one another it may be said that the hemmer consists of work-supporting aprons 16-2l, work-folding portions 1719, of which one 17 is upwardly turned from the apron 16 and the other is downwardly turned from the work deflecting wing-portion 20, and edge-guide portions which are defined by the upper and lower bends of the ogee curve 18. As has been previously stated it is desirable that the work-folding portions 17-19 extend in directions which are substantially parallel throughout the length of the folder so that the hemmer will act upon and handle the exact width of material which is included in the finished product.

rfaving thus set forth the nature of the invention, what we claim herein is 1. A lap-seam felling attachment comprising oppositely curved work-folding portions extending in substantially parallel direc tions from the receiving to the delivery ends of the folder and two edge-guiding portions arranged one above the other and cooperating with said work-folding portions to make a lap-seam.

2. A folder comprising oppositely curved work-folding portions extending in sub stantially parallel directions from the receiving to the delivery ends of the folder and edge-guiding portions arranged in over- I lapping relation and cooperating with said work-folding portions to make a lap-seam, said edge-guiding portions converging toward each other from the receiving to the delivery end of the folder.

3. A folder comprising oppositely curved work-folding portions extending in substantially parallel directions from the receiving to the delivery ends of the folder, edgeguiding portions cooperating therewith to make a lap-seam, and work-supporting aprons cooperating with said work-folding portions.

4:- A folder comprising a work-supporting apron, a work-folding portion extending up wardly therefrom, a downwardly concaved edge-guiding portion carried by said workfolding portion, a second and upwardly concavededge-guiding portion below the firstmentioned edge-guiding portion, and a second work-folding portion extending upwardly from said second edge-guiding portion, said work-folding portions extending in directions which are substantially parallel from front to back of the folder.

5. A folder for forming lap-seam hems having two work-supporting aprons, a workfolding portion therebetween, a downwardly concaved edge-guiding portion extending from said work-folding portion, a second and upwardly concaved edge-guiding portion below the first mentioned edge-guiding portion, and a second work-folding portion extending upwardly from said second edgeguiding portion, said work-folding portions extending in directions which are substantially parallel from front to back of the folder.

6. A folder comprising a work-supporting apron, a work-folding portion extending upwardly therefrom, a downwardly concaved edge-guiding portion carried by said work-folding portion, a second and upwardly concaved edge-guiding portion below the first mentioned edge-guiding portion, a second work-folding portion extending upwardly from said second edge-guiding portion said work-folding portions extending in directions which are substantially parallel from front to back of the folder, said edge-guiding portions converging in a vertical plane toward each other from the front to the back of the folder.

7. A hem-folder for making lap-seams comprising work-folding portions, edgeguiding portions and a bracket upon which the folder is mounted, said bracket being inclined downwardly from the plane of the throat-plate or the work-support of a sewing machine.

8. A hem-folder for making lap-seams comprising work-folding portions, edgeguiding portions converging in a vertical plane from the receiving to the delivery end of the folder, a bracket upon which said folder is mounted, said bracket being inclined downwardly from a horizontal plane through .the work-support so that the fabric being operated upon will pass through said folder in planes equally and oppositely inclined to the horizontal plane of the worksupport.

9. In combination with a lap-seam felling attachment consisting of folding scrolls equally and oppositely inclined to a horizontal plane containing the work-support and a plate upon which the scrolls are mounted, a bracket consisting of a vertically movable and downwardly inclined supportnames to this specification, in the presence ing member, a transversely adjustable slideof two subscribing Witnesses.

plate intermediate said member and said GEORGE E. MOLYNEUX. plate and means permitting the folder to be GEORGE S. GATCHELL. 5 adjusted both vertically and horizontally to Witnesses:

properly position it for stitching. HENRY A. KORNEMANN, Jr.,

In testimony whereof, We have signed our LILLIAN M. MILLER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

- Washington, D. C. 

